Automatic railway gate



H. ZAKRZEWSKI AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-16, 1921.

Patenwd Mar. 14,1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- H. ZAKRZEWSKI. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE. APPLICATION FILED NOV! 16. 1921.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

and reliable in operation, one which will be durable and not liable to get out of order, and one which can be economically.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY ZAKRZEWSKI, or CHICAGO, InLIivoIs, AssIGNon or ONE-THIRD T0 ANDREW KRAWCYNSKI AND ONE-THIRD T0 JOHN A. KISIEL.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY GATE.

Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway Gates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to gates adapted for use at railway and interurban crossings, to prevent PBClGStIliLIlS' and drivers 1 from injury by passing trains.

, One of the primary purposes of the invention is to provide an automatically actuated gate adapted to be operated by an approaching train, to thereby automatically close the gates before the train reaches the and removing the element of carelessness which is inevitably present where human watchfulness and manipulation are relied upon.

Another object of the invention is to pro vide an apparatus which will be accurate manufactured and readily installed.

Other objects and advantages of the inven-- tion should be readily appreciated a s'the same becomes better understood, by reference to the following description, when c'onsidered in connection with the 'accompany ing drawings. Referring to the drawings: F1 1 is a ers ective view aartiallvin c P a.

section of an apparatus embodying my invention Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing one. position of the.

- have a common hub 31 mounted upon the set of driving wheels and the operating actuating blocks;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary. view showing an actuating block mounted on the locomotive and engaged with one of said wheels;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of one set of driving wheels; and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the actuating-blocks.

Referring to the drawings more in tie is a view taken on the line 55 of Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Mar, 14,, 1922. Application filed November 16, 1921.

Serial No. 515,433.

tail, reference characters 8, 9, 11 and 12 indicate generally towers or housings on which the gates are mounted at each side of the road or crossing. Upon each of these posts, there fixedly mounted upon a shaft 13, a main gate 14, which is sub stantially balanced by a counterweight 15, in proximity to this shaft and preferably beneath and a little at one side thereof, there is mounted at 16 an auxiliary gate 17 adapted to be disposed across the sidewalk in the path of pedestrians. The gates are shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings as being in down or closed position. It will be apparent from this figure that the short end 18,0f the main gate overlies the short end 19-of the auxiliary gate, and when power is applied to the main gate to raise it from the horizontal position shown in full lines to an elevated or substantially vertical position, as shown in dotted lines, the end 18 will depress the end 19 of the auxiliary gate, thereby simultaneously swinging this gate to upright position, as shown. Upon reverse or downward movement of the main gate, the auxiliary gate will move correspondingly under the influence of gravity.

Upon each shaft 13, there is mounted a pulley 21, which is connected by a belt 22 with a pulley 23 mounted in the base of the tower and connected with a pulley 24, which in turn is actuated by a belt 25 from apulley 26 disposed upon a countershaft 27 extending transversely of and beneath the tracks. Fragments of a double track road are shown in Fig; 1 of the drawings, one

of the tracks being designated generally by reference character 28, and the other, by

reference character29.

Two pulleys 26 on the countershaft 27 are shown on an enlarged scale in Fig. 4, from which it will be observed that these pulleys shaft 2'7-and frictionally connected thereto by means of friction blocks 32 mounted in radially disposed sockets in the hub and urged into frictional engagement with the shaft by coiled expansion springs. The outer end of each socket is closed by a screw plug 34-by manipulation of which, the tension on the springs may be regulated. A

lv yone 35 is preferably employed to retain the pulleys against longitudinal displace ment. This frictional connection between, the pulleys 26 and the shaft 27 is provided so'that a slippage may-occur at this point,

and therebyprevent breakage of the. parts when rotation of the shaft 27 is quickly beun. b In order to insure a positive drive between the pulleys 26 and their respective driven pulleys 24, each of these pulleys is preferably provided on its periphery with a series of sockets 36, and the belts are provided on their inner faces with correspondinglyshaped projections or blocks 37 adapted to engage in the sockets 36, thereby insuring a positive driving connection between the pulleys 2 6 and the mechanism in each tower. It is understood, of course, that a set of pulleys 26 is mounted at each end of the countershaft, asshown in Fig. 1 and that a driving connection such as above described, is provided between each of these pulleys and the mechanism in its respective tower.

The shaft 27 is adapted to be actuated by a ti 'ainapproachingupon either track,

and it is accordingly equipped near the cen 'ter thereof with a pair of pulleys 38, each connected by a belt 39 with a driving pulley 41 mounted upon the inner endof a shaft 42 which is provided near its outer end with a driving wheel 43. This wheel and which blocks is mounted upon locomotive '49, as shown in' Fig. 3, in alignment with the wheel 44, while a similar block is mounted upon the rear car of the train in alignment with and .in position to engage the other wheel 43. 7

Assuming a train to be approaching the apparatusshown in. Fig. 1 upon the track 28 from the right, the block 48 on the locomotive will engage, the wheel 44, rotating 7 this wheel in a counterclockwise direction and through the crossed belt 45, rotating shaft 42 in. a clockwise direction. This movement will be transmitted through the belt 39 to the countershaft 27 and the pul-.

leys 26, and from thence through the pulleys'23 and the belts 22- to the pulleys 21 by which :theshafts 13 and the gates 14 carriedthereby, are rotated to lower the gates. It will be apparent from Fig. 1 that the belts 22 at one side of the crossing are cross'ed, .while those at the other side are straight,'thereby causing the gate carrying' shafts to rotate in opposite directions so as to lower the main gates toward each other over the crossing. The'gate's will remain in lowered position until a similar block48 carried by the rear car engages thedriving Wheel 43, whereupon all of the parts will be operated in the opposite direction to lift the gates as the rear end of the train passes the crossing.

The driving wheels44 and 45 are, of

course, mounted at any desirable distance from the crossing, and the belts39 will be made of the requisite length to accommodate the desired location of the driving Wheels. Since the initial movement of the shaft 27 may be quite rapid if the train is running at a high rate of speed, the frictional connection between this shaft and the pulleys 26 will permit a slippage untilthe V momentum of the parts to be moved is overcome, thus preventing breakage of or injury to the apparatus. All of the operating parts are set beneath the tracks in suitable casings 51, which are covered over to protect the operating'mechanism, and may if desired, be set in concrete. 'The parts are all housed against the weather and are therefore durable and'not liable to get out ofor- I der. The positive drive afforded by the recessed pulleys and the cooperating belts provided with projecting blocks insures against belt slippage and while in most cases, itmay be necessary to employ these non-slip belts on the longer stretches only, it should be manifest that'this type of belt may be employed throughout the apparatus if desired.

It is believed that my invention, its mode of operation, and many of its advantages will be understood from the foregoingwithout further description, and while I have shown and describeda preferred embodi ment of the invention, obviously the details of construction may be varied within'wide limits without departing from the essence of the invention as defined in the following claims. V

I claim:

1. In an automatic railway gate, the com-I bination of a pair of, driving wheels mount.-

ed in offset relation to each other and each provided with a circumferential friction flan 'e' a air of rooved fr ction members adapted to be carried at: the front and rear 7 respectively of a train in position toengage the flanges of their respective friction wheels and'thereby rotate said wheels, a crossed'belt connecting said wheels, a countershaft a non-slip belt connecting said wheels-with said countersh'aft for rotating the same, a

plurality of pivotally mounted gates, an intermediate shaft, for each gate, a belt-con necting each gate with its interniediat'e shaft, and a belt connecting each intermediateshaft with said couhtershaft, the driving connections between said driving wheels-and" said gates being so arranged that the gates are lowered upon actuation of one wheel and raised upon actuation of the other wheel.

2. In an automatic railway gate, the combination of a pair of driving wheels mounted to be laterally engaged by grooved friction blocks carried at the front and rear respectively of a train, a plurality of pivotally mounted gates, and driving connections between said gates and said wheels ineluding recessed pulleys and belts provided with projections engaging in said recesses to provide a positive driving connection whereby said gates are raised and lowered.

3. In an automatic railway gate, the combination of a plurality of main gates, a plurality of auxiliary gates adapted to be engaged and actuated by said main gates, and means for raising and lowering said main gates, said means comprising driving wheels mounted adjacent to the tracks, grooved friction blocks adapted to be carried by the front and rear respectivel of a train, and driving connections including belts and pulleys interposed between said driving wheels and said main gates.

4. In an automatic railway gate, the combination of a plurality of pairs of driving Wheels mounted adjacent the tracks, friction blocks adapted to be carried by' the front and rear of a train in position to respectively engage said wheels and rotate the same, a counter-shaft, a belt and pulley driving connection between each set of driving wheels and said countershaft, a plurality of towers located at each side of the tracks, main and auxiliary gates fulcrumed on said towers, and belt and pulley driving connections between said countershaft and said gates whereby the gates are raised and lowered upon actuation of said wheels.

HENRY ZAKRZEWSKI. 

